1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lever type connector and more particularly to the lever type connector in which a lever and a lever-holding casing can be prevented from being soiled or a sealing surface can be prevented from being thermally deformed in soldering a tab of one of mating connectors on a printed wiring board so as to seal the gap between each connector and a unit casing reliably.
2. Description of the Related Arts
The connector of this kind is used to connect a wire harness for use in a car and a unit such as a computer with each other.
A unit such as a computer unit is installed in the inside of the car in view of environmental problems. Owing to the expansion of the function of the computer unit caused by the progress of electronic control system, components are increasingly mounted in the car in such a degree that some components cannot be installed inside the car. It is conceivable that the computer unit is installed in an engine compartment, however, it is necessary to waterproof the computer unit with a component composed of rubber packing or the like.
With the expansion of the function of the computer unit, the number of poles has increased and thus a great force for connecting a plurality of connectors to each other is required. In addition, the resistance to the force required to insert the rubber packing between connectors to be connected to each other is great and thus a great force for connecting a plurality of connectors to each other is also required.
In order to meet the requirement, a lever type connector comprising male and female connectors have been proposed. In the lever type connector, a comparatively small force suffices to connect the male and female connectors to each other.
Normally, the lever of the lever type connector is mounted on a connector disposed on the computer unit side not on the wire harness side. The reason is as follows: If the lever is installed on the connector disposed on the wire harness side, there is a possibility that the lever is rotated from the original position or damaged accidentally while the wire harness is being assembled or installed in the car.
FIG. 4 shows an example of a conventional lever type connector comprising a male connector and a female connector. Let it be supposed that a lever 2 is rotatably supported on the male connector 1. The male connector is integral with a lever-holding portion 1a. The lever 2 is mounted on the lever-holding portion 1a. A plurality of tabs 3 incorporated in the male connector 1 is inserted downward into an inserting opening of a printed wiring board 4 in the direction from an upper surface 4a thereof and soldered on a lower surface 4b thereof. Then, the front end of a unit casing 5 is fixed to the male connector 1 with the printed wiring board 4 inserted into the unit casing 5, and a rear cover 7 is then fixed to the rear end of the unit casing 5 by an adhesive agent 8.
However, the lever-holding portion 1a projects downward from the lower surface 4b of the printed wiring board 4 when the tabs 3 of the connector 1 is soldered on the printed wiring board 4 with the tabs 3 inserted into the inserting opening thereof. As a result, the lever-holding portion 1a is immersed in a tank containing solder when flow soldering is performed, and consequently, the lever 2 and a sealing surface 1b are soiled or thermally deformed. Thus, the gap between the connector 1 and the unit casing 5 cannot be properly sealed.